Do you know him best as the hammer-slinging member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the man who fathered Captain James T. Kirk in big-screen Star Trek or as an actor who’s played a starring role in more than $8 billion worth of box office earnings? Whichever it is, we’re talking about the wildly popular Chris Hemsworth and his always-entertaining movies.
The actor, a key member of the MCU in movies that have ranged from Thor (and its three sequels) to The Avengers (and it’s three sequels), is a multi-talented charmer who has achieved so much. In just 15 years, Chris Hemsworth movies have spanned 2009’s aforementioned Star Trek and A Perfect Getaway to 2024’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, with such titles as The Cabin in the Woods (2012), In the Heart of the Sea (2015), Ghostbusters (2016), Men in Black: International and a pair of Extraction action-adventures (2020 and 2023) in between. All told, it’s quite the eclectic line-up.
For those who’d like to put a little more Hemsworth in their movie memories, here’s our list of the 10 best Chris Hemsworth movies (so far).
10. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
The third Avengers movie that’s among the top 10 in the all-time worldwide box office (with roughly $2.05 billion in earnings, the first-ever superhero movie to achieve those heights), Infinity War teams Hemsworth’s Thor with other members of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with the Guardians of the Galaxy’s Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), who all try to stop supervillain Thanos (Josh Brolin) from destroying half the universe with (literally) the snap of his fingers (many of the heroes included).
9. In the Heart of the Sea (2015): Chris Hemsworth movies
And then for something completely different, there’s this true story that inspired Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick. Hemsworth reunites with his Rush director Ron Howard to tell the story of Owen Chase and his fellow crewmen (including Cillian Murphy and Tom Holland) aboard the whale ship Essex, who were attacked by a whale in the Pacific Ocean in 1820. Most of the men died from starvation and dehydration before a few were rescued months later.
Hemsworth’s Chase is the heart of the crew, a first mate more seasoned and sure than his captain, qualities that serve his shipmates well as they continue to face the whale and some unthinkable decisions to survive. There’s also an appearance by Melville (played by Ben Whishaw), in an imagining of how he might have heard about his white whale.
8. Extraction 2 (2023)
The original Extraction, a Netflix thriller from 2020, saw Hemsworth establish himself yet again as one of Hollywood’s action star go-tos (with even the perfect action hero name for his character: Tyler Rake). In this even better, more action-y sequel, Rake follows up saving a kidnapped teen in the first film with a mission to save a mother and her children — including Ketevan, Tyler’s former sister-in-law — from a brutal crime syndicate leader.
Tyler, who had retired to a cabin in Austria to take a break from work as a mercenary, rounds up teammates Nik and Yaz to help sweep Ketevan and her family off to safety. But it’s going to take planes, trains, and automobiles to make that happen, especially when her captor gets help from his brother and fellow mob leader in attacking Tyler and his crew. Note a special appearance by Idris Elba, and confirmation from Netflix on plans for an Extraction 3 and the return of Hemsworth.
7. Bad Times at the El Royale (2018): Chris Hemsworth movies
Don’t think Hemsworth can muster up a good menacing vibe to play a bad guy? Think again, as his cult leader Billy Lee gets all kinds of creepy and manipulative and mysterious and vicious in this neo-noir thriller that reunites Hemsworth with Drew Goddard, his Cabin in the Woods director.
Multiple stories were woven together in surprising ways to reveal a multi-decades crime, and, in addition to Hemsworth’s intense and oddly charming baddie, the eclectic cast giving equally memorable performances includes Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Offerman, and Dakota Johnson.
6. Rush (2013)
In an exciting sports drama that demonstrates yet another aspect of his movie star charm, Hemsworth plays British Formula One race car driver James Hunt, who spent the 1976 racing season in a tight, tumultuous rivalry with friend and fellow driver Niki Lauda for the F1 championship. Ron Howard directs the movie, a fast-paced, action-heavy story that’s a thrilling ride, even if you’ve never watched a minute of F1 racing (and have no desire to).
Hunt, a charming playboy and more risk-taking driver than the more laidback Australian Lauda, went back and forth for the lead on the season championship with Lauda throughout 1976, both facing challenges like serious car crashes, a disqualification and infidelity (Hunt’s supermodel wife left him for Richard Burton not too far into their marriage). And even when one of them finally emerged as the victor, it was their journey and the fact that their rivalry nonetheless was a big part of what pushed both of them forward.
5. Marvel’s The Avengers (2012): Chris Hemsworth movies
After releasing movies featuring title characters Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel decided to team up its all-star characters, played by all stars, for one super tale with Hemsworth front and center. Thor, with his Asgardian brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) causing all kinds of world-threatening problems, was paired up with Avengers Initiative cohorts Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), to try to rein Loki in. Oh, and save the world, of course.
Audiences were into the concept of so many Marveldom heroes brought together in one story, to the tune of more than $1.5 billion at the global box office (which puts The Avengers in the all-time top 10 of money-earning movies). It even received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects.
4. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
That Hemsworth penchant for bringing the funny stuff we mentioned above? We were thinking specifically of this very movie, the tops in the series-within-the series of Thor movies in the MCU. The third movie centering around the god of hammer-time — following Thor (2011) and Thor: Dark World (2013) — is a favorite of Hemsworth, Thor, and MCU fans in general, as the smart script, typically spot-on performances and commitment to fun by Hemsworth and director Taika Waititi turned out a movie that remains a pure delight.
To freshen things up for audiences, and the cast that had been playing their characters for several movies by this point, Hemsworth and Waititi give Thor a new haircut, has his sister, Hela (Cate Blanchett), destroy his hammer and brings in his Avenger pal the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to square off as his new foe. Later, Thor has to destroy something he loves and use one of his sneaky sibs to help him do it; is it Hela or Loki (Tom Hiddleston)? The answer to that is just one of Ragnarok’s surprises.
3. The Cabin in the Woods (2011): Chris Hemsworth movies
Horror, comedy, thriller, mystery … this film, written by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon and Buffy writer Drew Goddard (and directed by Goddard), pays homage and cheekily mocks the conventions of terrifying movies. Lots of frights and even the occasional laugh result, sometimes in the same moment. And the audience gets an early taste of the comedy chops Hemsworth will show off in his portrayals of Marvel’s Thor.
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The setting for the misadventure: a group of college students, led by Hemsworth’s Curt, head off to a weekend of rest and relaxation in a cabin owned by Curt’s cousin. But fans of the horror genre know that’s where many a teen and young adult has met a far different fate than planned. Thanks to secret surveillance, zombies, monsters, and a pair of mad scientists, Curt and company experience one long fright night … well, the ones who survive, anyway.
2. Star Trek (2009)
Hemsworth joins another film franchise with this, the 11th Star Trek big-screen movie overall, and the first in a series of movies rebooted by director J.J. Abrams, with a new cast recreating classic Trek characters. Hemsworth portrays George Kirk, the father of future Captain James T. Kirk, who was born while his father was defending the Federation ship Kelvin against Romulan Captain Nero (Eric Bana). That sets adult James Kirk (Chris Pine) and adult Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto) on a path to fight Nero in their future.
Additional cast includes original Spock Leonard Nimoy as the older Spock, Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy (a.k.a. Bones), Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, and Anton Yelchin as Chekov. The movie was a critical and box office hit (totaling more than $385 million globally), and earned Oscar nominations for Best Makeup, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects.
1. Avengers: Endgame (2019): Chris Hemsworth movies
We’re appropriately concluding with the last entry in the “Infinity War” series of Avengers mof Avengers movies, but it also happens to be the best of those flicks, so factor that in when you decide how you want to order your Hemsworth-as-Thor binge. We’ll stick with a spoiler-free rundown, so suffice it to say, the action-packed Endgame features humor, heart, spectacular visual effects (earning an Oscar nod in that category) and score (which received a Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media Grammy nomination).
And, of course, Hemsworth is joined by outstanding co-stars, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson and Paul Rudd. Thor and his Avengers cohorts are trying to reverse Thanos’ (Brolin) evildoing from Avengers: Infinity War, and the ensemble’s pay-off led to big box office dollars: nearly $2.8 billion worldwide, the second-highest earning movie of all time (after 2009’s Avatar).